LittleBigPlanet’s Sackboy is dead. Okay, maybe not literally, but as far asPlayStationis concerned, it’s over.
You know that PlayStation Studios MCU-style introduction that plays while booting up any major first-party exclusive? The big, dramatic symbols and music that provide us with brief glimpses of all the greats who make PlayStation so beloved. Nathan Drake, Aloy, Joel and Ellie, Ratchet and Clank,Astro Bot, and of course, Sackboy.
Well, not anymore.In the most recent version of the introduction - used at the start of the Until Dawn movie - Sackboy is nowhere to be seen.What this actually means for the fuzzy little guy is unclear,but when we look at Sackboy’s slow death over the last decade, it doesn’t bode well.
Sackboy Peaked 14 Years Ago
Sackboy was PlayStation’s front-running mascot during the PS3 era, withLittleBigPlanet 1 and 2being incredibly popular games on the console. But this time in the sun was unfortunately short-lived, as Media Molecule handed off LittleBigPlanet to Sumo Digital for the next entry.
While Media Molecule went on to develop Dreams, which is no longer receiving online support or active development, Sumo Digital created LittleBigPlanet 3 in 2014, which was… a mess.
Ignoring the multiple times the game corrupted and I lost all my progress, it was missing something that made the first two games so special. Maybe it was too ambitious, maybe it wasn’t ambitious enough, or maybe it was just because Media Molecule wasn’t at the helm anymore.
In 2020, we gotSackboy: A Big Adventure, also developed by Sumo Digital, exclusively for the PlayStation 5, although it would later launch on PS4 and PC.
That game was fine, too.
It was a solid platformer, but ultimately felt like a cookie-cutter 3D Mario game that was missing the creativity and innovation of LittleBigPlanet’s core identity. It had a few extra outfits added to it over time, but it never really got up to full speed from the get-go, essentially being outshone byAstro’s Playroom. Then, in 2024, Astro Bot came along with a fully-fledged experience, and it won Game of the Year. Too bad, Sackboy.
From A Business Perspective, Sackboy Is More Little Than Big
Let’s put ourselves in Sony’s shoes for a moment.
Sackboy was popular because of LittleBigPlanet, and when Sumo Digital took over, LittleBigPlanet 3 was lacking during the PS4’s early days. Then, after a long period, Sackboy: A Big Adventure came along for the PS5’s launch, didn’t innovate, and was middling in performance,outshone by Astro Bot’s tech demoand the little robot himself. When the full Astro Bot game took 2024’s Game of the Year award in a largely competitive year for games, it solidified Astro Bot’s position as the new mascot of the PlayStation brand. Sackboy was dead.
Since his arrival in 2008, Sackboy has become less and less relevant, and that’s partially because Media Molecule was no longer there to lead him. Outside of that team’s hands, he never reached the same great heights ever again, and now there’s a bigger, better little mascot ready to take his place.
As much as I want to believe that we’ll one day get LittleBigPlanet 4 or see Sackboy once again, it’s best to admit that Sackboy’s time is over, and has been for a long time.
I’ll never stop loving Sackboy - LittleBigPlanet was a huge part of my childhood, and it will remain ever special to me, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing him again. Maybe he’ll make a cameo in Astro Bot 2?
Sackboy’s days are done, and LittleBigPlanet is over.
